India Trivia

Physical Geography/Environment

Directions: Choose 1 paragraph to read. Find one fact, write it down, then draw a picture to match the fact.

Geography

India is part of the continent of Asia. India is a peninsula (which means it is surrounded by water on three sides) that extends into the Indian Ocean.

The world’s tallest mountains, the Himalayas, were formed by plate tectonics. This process is still continuing as the Himalayas are getting higher and higher.This gigantic mountain system stretches across Asia for almost 2,200 kilometers. Several ranges of mountains have mountain peaks with a height of over 8,000 meters.

South of the Himalaya Mountains lie vast plains (flat lands) which were created by the Indus River in the west and the Ganges River in the east. This region is the heart of India’s fertile farming land and also the most densely populated region of the country.

The Ganges River is India’s most important river. The sacred (holy) river is important to the religion of Hinduism. Many Hindus come to bathe in this river because they believe it has special healing powers.

The southern part of India is formed mostly by the Deccan plateau. This geologically oldest part of India lies, on average, a thousand meters above sea level. The plateau is bordered by two mountain ranges: the Western Ghats rise along the Arabian Sea and the Eastern Ghats are parallel to the Bay of Bengal.

To the west lies Rajasthan, famous for deserts and camels. Long ago this region had mighty medieval forts and powerful maharajas (kings).

Wildlife

India's diverse climate zones has about 65,000 animal species, including elephants, pythons, river dolphins, and rhinos, and 12,000 types of flowering plants. It is the only country in the world with both lions and tigers. It's also a bird watcher's paradise.

On the coast of the Bay of Bengal is the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest. Here, tigers swim in the same rivers as dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, and saltwater crocodiles.

This unique landscape is constantly under threat as sea levels rise and humans hunt illegally and clear trees for firewood.

The Himalaya mountains provide a home for some of India's rarest animals and plants. The most elusive animal is the snow leopard. Bears and black buck live lower down, and in the northeast, the tiger and one-horned rhinoceros can be found

Culture & People

Directions: Choose 1 paragraph to read. Find one fact, write it down, then draw a picture to match the fact.

Food

India is known as the land of spices! From north to south, east to west, there is a large variety of food found in India.

Food in the North:

Mughlai is a famous style of food made with a blend of spices, cream and vegetables or meat. It is enjoyed best when eaten with Indian breads called Naan and Tandoori Roti or white rice. Flour pancakes called Paranthas made with a choice of potatoes, cauliflower, or minced meat stuffing is a popular food for breakfast and lunch. Chhole bhature is a tasty combination of spicy chickpeas and deep fried dough famous all over the country. Biryani is an-all time favorite (pilaf) rice amongst many Indians. It can be made with mixed vegetables or meat.

South Indian Food

Dosa and idli are famous rice based dishes that are usually eaten with a lentil soup called sambar. Indian sweets like bread or rice puddings called kheer, sweetened milk rolls called rasgulla and sweet fried dough called gulab jamun are a treat to the sweet tooth.

Clothes

The sari is the most traditional piece of clothing worn in India. It is 9 yards of cloth elegantly draped by most Indian women. It comes in a variety of colors, design and fabric so it can be worn on all occasions as well as weddings.

Kurta-pajama or salwaar-kameez is a traditional two-piece set of tunic with pants and a scarf worn casually by many Indian men and women. Children and younger adults usually wear western outfits.

Festivals, Holidays, Celebrations

Diwali is the biggest Hindu celebration in India and marks the beginning of the Indian New Year. It is called the festival of lights and celebrates the victory of good over evil.

Holi is the celebration of colors and Rakhi is the celebration of the brother-sister relationship. Many more such festivals like Ganeshchaturthi, Navratri, Karwachauth, Onam, Baisakhi, Lohri, etc are celebrated in India that spread the message of love, peace and happiness. Many Indians celebrate Eid and Christmas as well.

August 15 – Indian Independence Day, January 26 – Indian Republic Day, October 2 – Gandhi Jayanti (Gandhi’s birthday) are official holidays in India. One special school holiday celebrated is on the birthday of India’s late Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru (November 14) who was very fond of kids.

Famous Stories or Epics

Ramayana and Mahabharata are the oldest and most well known religious epics of India. Ramayana is the story of Lord Rama and his heroic deeds. Mahabharata is a tale of two families, namely the Pandavas and the Kauravas who fight a battle against one another to be the next king. Both stories are extremely long and detailed filled with drama, action and a moral that explains karma, which means, good things happen to people who do good to others and bad things happen to those who do bad to others.

Values

Indians generally are God fearing and religious people. They strongly believe in the existence of God and His divine powers. Hindus worship idols of many Gods and Goddesses and follow various rituals and superstitions. Also most Families in India live together as one big family. For example, children live with their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins all in one house. Indians believe that joined families provide love, respect, help and support amongst the family members.

Gandhi

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Mahatma Gandhi grew up in India while it was being colonized by Great Britain. Colonialism is when one country controls another country and all of its people and resources.

Gandhi practiced the religion of Hinduism. He was a quiet but determined man who spent much of his time in simple cloth robes and meditating. Gandhi was a strong believer that non-violent resistance/opposition was the right answer to the wrongs being done by British colonialism.

Salt is a very important resource in India. It is used in most cooking. “Next to air and water, salt is perhaps the greatest necessity of life,” said Gandhi. During colonialism, a British company called the British East India Company had total control of the salt trade in India. They charged high prices and taxes on salt and kept all the money for themselves and Great Britain. Indians didn’t benefit at all. Gandhi led a nonviolent march to the Indian Ocean to gather sea salt. They were displaying their people power against Great Britain’s colonialism. 50,000 people eventually joined him on the 240 miles journey of protest.

Time and time again it was Gandhi’s idea of nonviolence that helped Indians succeed over the violence and oppression of Great Britain, their army, and colonialism. In 1947, after many years of petition and resistance, India was finally able to gain its independence from Great Britain through the efforts of Gandhi and many others.

Government

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HISTORY

India's earliest known civilization arose about 5,000 years ago on the Indus River in what is now Pakistan. Archaeologists uncovered the remains of two huge cities with brick houses, piped water, and sewer systems. Nobody knows why, but these cities, called Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, were abandoned in 1700 B.C.

The Aryan people were farmers from Central Asia who arrived in India around 1500 B.C. They spoke Sanskrit, one of the world's oldest known languages. The Vedic Scriptures, writings that form the basis of the Hindu religion, were written during the Aryan reign.

In the 200-year reign of the Gupta Empire, starting in the fourth century A.D., arts, crafts, and sciences flourished. During this time, the Indian astronomer Aryabhatta determined that the Earth revolved around the sun. This was long before the Western world accepted the theory.

Example from the Vedic Scriptures

Harappa

Government Today

India has 29 states and a single Prime Minister or President can’t possibly pay attention to every single detail in every state. Hence each state has its own government.

The Constitution clearly lays down the matters (subjects) which the state government will deal with and the matters which the union (national) government will deal with. No matter what the issue, the state and union government have to follow the constitution.

Economy

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General Facts about India's Economy

The Economy of India is the 7th largest in the world with a GDP (a year's goods and services) of $1.843 Trillion (U.S. dollars). If you consider how much that money can buy in India compared to other countries, the economy is third largest (worth $4.469 trillion U.S.). India's GDP growth was faster than China's growth in the same period of 2017, and much faster than what India had done in the previous quarter. T

India's economy includes agriculture, handcrafts, industries, and a lot of services. Services are the main source of economic growth in India today, though two-thirds of Indian people earn their living directly or indirectly through agriculture. In recent times, due to its large number of well-educated people who can speak English, India became a pioneer in information technology.

Economic Problems and Gains

For most of India's independent history, it had strict government controls in many areas such as telecommunications (communication over long distances), banking and foreign direct investment. Since the early 1990s, India has slowly opened up its markets by reducing government control on foreign trade and investment.

The social and economic problems India faces are the increasing population, poverty, lack of infrastructure (buildings, roads, etc.) and growing unemployment. Although poverty has gone down 10% since the 1980s, a quarter of India's citizens still cannot pay for enough food. India’s richest 1% own 53% of its wealth, up from 36.8% in 2000. For comparison, the richest 1% in the United States own 37.3% of its wealth.

The rise in inequality is compromising the pace at which India is lifting people out of extreme poverty. About one-third of the world’s population living on under US$1.90 live in India, some 224 million people. An organization called Oxfam calculated that if India were merely to stop inequality from growing further, it could lift 90 million more people out of extreme poverty by 2019.

India has made modest progress in closing its gender gap over the last decade, rising from 98th to 87th in the World Economics Report. which aggregates a range of indicators from health and education to economic and political participation. This means they are trying to encourage as many women as men to find jobs. However, it is still ranked 135 out of 144 countries in the percentage of women who are currently employed. India’s economy would have much to gain from getting more women into the workforce.

Environmental Issues

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Growing Population

A population of over 1,266,883,598 (1.27 billion) is growing at 2.11 per cent every year. This puts considerable pressure on natural resources and reduces economic development. Thus, the greatest challenge is to limit the population growth.

Poverty

India has often been described a rich land with poor people. The vast majority of people are directly dependent on the natural resources for their basic needs of food, fuel, and shelter. About 40% of Indians still live in poverty. Environment degradation (destruction) has had a negative affect on the poor who depend upon the resources of their immediate surroundings. Thus, the challenge of poverty and the challenge of a sustainable environment go hand in hand. The population growth happens among the poor, because, every child is an earner and helper to bringing money to the family.

Urbanization

Nearly 27 per cent Indians live in urban areas. Urbanization and industrialization has given birth to a great number of environmental problems that need urgent attention. Over 30 per cent of urban Indians live in slums. Out of India’s 3,245 towns and cities, only 21 have partial or full sewerage and treatment facilities.

Air and Water Population

The majority of industrial plants (factories) are using out-dated technologies and makeshift facilities which fail to eliminate pollutants. A great number of cities and industrial areas that have been identified as the worst in terms of air and water pollution in the world! The government and businesses need to cooperate to create regulations on how much pollution a factory can produce.

Agricultural Growth

Too much agriculture is damaging the environment, causing soil salinity and damage to physical structure of soil. The people need to learn how to use sustainable farming methods to increase the chanced of having fruitful farms.

Need for Ground Water

They need to conserve and regulate the use of groundwater to ensure safe drinking water. Factors like waste water from homes, industrial (factories) water use, and chemical fertilizers/pesticides have polluted the surface water and affected quality of the groundwater. It is essential to restore the water quality of the rivers and other water body as lakes.

Development and Forests

Forests in India have been shrinking for several centuries owing to pressures of agriculture and other uses. Due to the growing demand for more water, damns have been build to hold the water. These damns flood much needed forest areas. Vast areas that were once green, stand today as wastelands. The tribal communities living in the forests respect the trees and birds and animal that gives them sustenance. Modern knowledge and skills of the forest dept. should be combined with the traditional knowledge and experience of the local communities. .

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